Agencies and Commissions January 12, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This call for proposals (``Call'') invites experienced early stage fund managers to submit the preliminary materials discussed in Section II below, in the form of the Small Business Investment Company (``SBIC'') Management Assessment Questionnaire (``MAQ''), for consideration by the Small Business Administration (``SBA'') to be licensed as Early Stage Small Business Investment Companies. Licensed Early Stage SBICs may receive SBA-guaranteed debenture leverage of up to 100 percent of their Regulatory Capital, up to a maximum of $50 million. However, Early Stage SBICs may request less than 100 percent of their Regulatory Capital. Importantly, Early Stage SBICs must invest at least 50% of their investment dollars in early stage small businesses. For the purposes of this initiative, an ``early stage'' business is one that has never achieved positive cash flow from operations in any fiscal year. By licensing and providing SBA guaranteed leverage to Early Stage SBICs, SBA seeks to expand entrepreneurs' access to capital and encourage innovation as part of President Obama's Start-Up America Initiative launched on January 31, 2011. More information on the Early Stage SBIC Initiative and the regulations governing these SBICs may be found at www.sba.gov/inv/ earlystage.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) from Sandra Gavutis on behalf of C-10 Research and Education Foundation (C-10 or the petitioner), dated September 25, 2014, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations to provide improved identification techniques against Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) concrete degradation at nuclear power plants. The petition was docketed by the NRC on October 8, 2014, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-109. The NRC is requesting public comments on this petition for rulemaking.